Hostess will seek to liquidate if striking workers don’t return to their jobs

Start stockpiling your end-of-the-world Twinkies now, because this might be the end for Hostess.

Hostess Brands Inc. announced Wednesday that if enough of its striking workers did not return to their posts by 5 p.m. EST on Thursday, the company would ask U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain for permission to liquidate.

The snack cake company has been struggling to emerge from its second Chapter 11 bankruptcy, taking drastic measures like getting the bankruptcy court to approve a contract to cut wages by 8 percent. Not surprisingly, the workers did not take kindly to that. They went on strike Nov. 9, two days after the company imposed the contract, which the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union told ABC News would also cut benefits by 27 percent to 32 percent.

"We simply do not have the financial resources to survive an ongoing national strike," Hostess CEO Gregory Rayburn said in a statement. Hostess has already permanently closed three of its 36 bakeries due to the strike, Thomson Reuters reports.

But the company’s “desperate times call for desperate measures” credo is not striking a chord with the union.

"Hostess Brands is making a mockery of the labor relations system that has been in place for nearly 100 years," Frank Hurt, union president, said in a statement. "Our members are not just striking for themselves, but for all unionized workers across North America who are covered by collective bargaining agreements."